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diff --git a/17289.txt b/17289.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de4443a --- /dev/null +++ b/17289.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance (by An Antiquary), by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Dance (by An Antiquary) + Historic Illustrations of Dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D. + +Author: Anonymous + +Release Date: December 12, 2005 [EBook #17289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE (BY AN ANTIQUARY) *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Courtney, Sandy Brown, and the Distributed +Proofreaders team + + + + + + + THE DANCE + + _Historic Illustrations of Dancing + from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D._ + + BY + AN ANTIQUARY + + + LONDON + JOHN BALE, SONS & DANIELSSON, LTD. +83-91, GREAT TITCHFIELD STREET, OXFORD STREET, W + + Respectfully dedicated + to Dr. Eleanor Maxwell. + + 1911 + + + + +PREFACE. + + * * * * * + +This sketch of the iconography of the dance does not pretend to be a +history of the subject, except in the most elementary way. It may be +taken as a summary of the history of posture; a complete dance cannot +be easily rendered in illustration. + +The text is of the most elementary description; to go into the subject +thoroughly would involve years and volumes. The descriptions of the +various historic dances or music are enormous subjects; two authors +alone have given 800 dances in four volumes.[Footnote: Thompson's +complete collection of 200 country dances performed at Court, Bath, +Tunbridge, and all public assemblies, with proper figures and +directions to each set for the violin, German flute, and hautboy, 8s. +6d. Printed for Charles and Samuel Thompson, St. Paul's Churchyard, +London, where may be had the yearly dances and minuets. Four volumes, +each 200 dances. 1770-1773.] + +It would have been interesting if some idea of the orchesography of +the Egyptians and Greeks could have been given; this art of describing +dances much in the manner that music is written is lost, and the +attempts to revive it have been ineffective. The increasing speed of +the action since the days of Lulli would now render it almost +impossible. + +It is hoped that this work may be of some use as illustrating the +costume, position and accessories of the dance in various periods to +those producing entertainments. + +To the reader desirous of thoroughly studying the subject a +bibliography is given at the end. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I + +Egyptian, Assyrian, Hebrew, and Phoenician Dancing. The Ritual Dance +of Egypt. Dancing Examples from Tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptah, 6th Dynasty, +British Museum. Description of Dancing from Sir G. Wilkinson; of the +Egyptian Pipes and Hieroglyphics of Dancing, &c. Phoenician Round +Dances, from a Limestone Group found at Cyprus, and Bronze Patera from +Idalium, Cyprus. + + +CHAPTER II + +Greek Dancing. Bacchanalian Dance, by the Ceramic Painter Hieron. +Description of some Greek Dances, the Geranos, the Corybantium, the +Hormos, &c. Dancing Bacchante from a Vase and from Terra Cotta. The +Hand-in-hand, and Panathenaeac Dance from Ceramic Ware. Military Dance +from Sculpture in Vatican, Greek Dancer with Castanets. Illustration +of Cymbals and Pipes from the British Museum. The Chorus. Greek +Dancers and Tumblers. + + +CHAPTER III + +Etruscan, South Italian and Roman Dancing. Illustrations from the +Grotta dei Vasi, the Grotta della Scimia, and the Grotta del +Triclinio, Corneto. Funeral Dances from Albanella, Capua, &c. Pompeii +and the Baths of Constantino. The Dances of the Etruscans and South +Italians. The Roman, Dance of the Salii. The Bellicrepa. The social +position of Dancing. The Chorus. + + +CHAPTER IV + +Early English and Mediaeval Dancing to the 14th Century. Dancing in +Churches and Religious Dancing. The Gleemen's Dance. Military Dances. +The Hornpipe. Tumbling and Jest Dances. Illustrations of Gleemen's +Dance, Hornpipe, Sword Dances, Tumbling and Various Comic Dances. + + +CHAPTER V + +Society Dancing, the 15th to 18th Centuries. Out-of-door Dances. +Chamber Dancing. Comic Dances. The Ball. Illustrations from Italian +15th Century, German 15th and 16th Centuries, French 15th, 16th, 17th, +English 15th, 16th and 18th Centuries Dancing. + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Modern Theatre Dance: its Origin. Introduced into France from +Italy. Under Henry III., IV., Louis XIII., XIV. Influence of Cardinals +Richelieu and Mazarin. Foundation of the Academic de Danse et de +Musique. The Court Ballet. Moliere. Corneille. Lalli, &c. The Theatre +Ballet. The Influence of Noverre. Its introduction into and its +Present Condition in England, &c. Illustrations of Mlles. de Camargo, +Duvernay, Taglioni. Fanny Ellsler. Ferraris, Carlotta Grisi. Adeline +Genee. Anna Pavlova. Fedorova, &c. Various Eastern Examples. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Dancing to the clapping of bands. Egyptian, +from the tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptah, 6th Dynasty, about 3300 B.C. (British +Museum.)] + + * * * * * + +Historic Illustrations of Dancing. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, HEBREW AND PHOENICIAN DANCING. + +In this work it is not necessary to worry the reader with speculations +as to the origin of dancing. There are other authorities easily +accessible who have written upon this theme. + +Dancing is probably one of the oldest arts. As soon as man was man he +without doubt began to gesticulate with face, body, and limbs. How +long it took to develop bodily gesticulation into an art no one can +guess--perhaps a millennium. + +In writing of dancing, one will therefore include those gesticulations +or movements of the body suggesting an idea, whether it be the slow +movement of marching, or the rapid gallop, even some of the movements +that we commonly call acrobatic. It is not intended here to include +the more sensual movements of the East and the debased antique. + +Generally the antique dances were connected with a religious ritual +conceived to be acceptable to the Gods. This connection between +dancing and religious rites was common up to the 16th century. It +still continues in some countries. + +In some of the earliest designs which have come down to us the dancers +moved, as stars, hand in hand round an altar, or person, representing +the sun; either in a slow or stately method, or with rapid trained +gestures, according to the ritual performed. + +Dancing, music and poetry were inseparable. Dancing is the poetry of +motion, and its connection with music, as the poetry of sound, occurs +at all times. In our own day musical themes are marked by forms +originally dance times, as waltz time, gavotte time, minuet time, etc. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Greek figures in a solemn dance. From a vase +at Berlin.] + +Amongst the earliest representations that are comprehensible, we have +certain Egyptian paintings, and some of these exhibit postures that +evidently had even then a settled meaning, and were a phrase in the +sentences of the art. Not only were they settled at such an early +period (B.C. 3000, fig. 1) but they appear to have been accepted and +handed down to succeeding generations (fig. 2), and what is remarkable +in some countries, even to our own times. The accompanying +illustrations from Egypt and Greece exhibit what was evidently a +traditional attitude. The hand-in-hand dance is another of these. + +The earliest accompaniments to dancing appear to have been the +clapping of hands, the pipes,[Footnote: Egyptian music appears to +have been of a complicated character and the double pipe or flutes +were probably reeded, as with our clarionet. The left pipe had few +stops and served as a sort of hautboy; the right had many stops and +was higher. The single pipe, (a) "The recorder" in the British Museum, +is a treble of 10-1/2 in. and is pentaphonic, like the Scotch scale; +the tenor (b) is 8-3/4 in. long and its present pitch--[Illustration: +a] [Illustration: b] the guitar, the tambourine, the castanets, the +cymbals, the tambour, and sometimes in the street, the drum. + +The following account of Egyptian dancing is from Sir Gardiner +Wilkinson's "Ancient Egypt" [Footnote: Vol. i., p. 503-8.]:-- + +"The dance consisted mostly of a succession of figures, in which the +performers endeavoured to exhibit a great variety of gesture. Men and +women danced at the same time, or in separate parties, but the latter +were generally preferred for their superior grace and elegance. Some +danced to slow airs, adapted to the style of their movement; the +attitudes they assumed frequently partook of a grace not unworthy of +the Greeks; and some credit is due to the skill of the artist who +represented the subject, which excites additional interest from its +being in one of the oldest tombs of Thebes (B.C. 1450, Amenophis II.). +Others preferred a lively step, regulated by an appropriate tune; and +men sometimes danced with great spirit, bounding from the ground, +more in the manner of Europeans than of Eastern people. On these +occasions the music was not always composed of many instruments, and +here we find only the cylindrical maces and a woman snapping her +fingers in the time, in lieu of cymbals or castanets. + +"Graceful attitudes and gesticulations were the general style of their +dance, but, as in all other countries, the taste of the performance +varied according to the rank of the person by whom they were employed, +or their own skill, and the dance at the house of a priest differed +from that among the uncouth peasantry, etc. + +"It was not customary for the upper orders of Egyptians to indulge in +this amusement, either in public or private assemblies, and none +appear to have practised it but the lower ranks of society, and those +who gained their livelihood by attending festive meetings. + +"Fearing lest it should corrupt the manners of a people naturally +lively and fond of gaiety, and deeming it neither a necessary part of +education nor becoming a person of sober habits, the Egyptians forbade +those of the higher classes to learn it as an amusement. + +"Many of these postures resembled those of the modern ballet, and the +pirouette delighted an Egyptian party 3,500 years ago. + +"The dresses of the females were light and of the finest texture, a +loose flowing robe reaching to the ankles, sometimes with a girdle. + +"In later times, it appears more transparent and folded in narrow +pleats.[Footnote: There is a picture of an Egyptian gauffering machine +in Wilkinson, vol. i., p. 185.] Some danced in pairs, holding each +other's hand; others went through a succession of steps alone, both +men and women; sometimes a man performed a solo to the sound of music +or the clapping of hands. + +"A favourite figure dance was universally adopted throughout the +country, in which two partners, who were usually men, advanced toward +each other, or stood face to face upon one leg, and having performed a +series of movements, retired again in opposite directions, continuing +to hold by one hand and concluding by turning each other round (see +fig. 3). That the attitude was very common is proved by its having +been adopted by the hieroglyphic (fig. 4) as the mode of describing +'dance.'" + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--The hieroglyphics describe the dance.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Egyptian hieroglyphic for "dance."] + +Many of the positions of the dance illustrated in Gardner Wilkinson +are used at the present day. + +The ASSYRIANS probably danced as much as the other nations, but +amongst the many monuments that have been discovered there is little +dancing shown, and they were evidently more proud of their campaigns +and their hunting than of their dancing. A stern and strong people, +although they undoubtedly had this amusement, we know little about it. +Of the Phoenicians, their neighbours, we have some illustrations of +their dance, which was apparently of a serious nature, judging by the +examples which we possess, such as that (fig. 5) from Cyprus +representing three figures in hooded cowls dancing around a piper. It +is a dance around a centre, as is also (fig. 6) that from Idalium in +Cyprus. The latter is engraved around a bronze bowl and is evidently a +planet and sun dance before a goddess, in a temple; the sun being the +central object around which they dance, accompanied by the double +pipes, the harp, and tabour. The Egyptian origin of the devotion is +apparent in the details, especially in the lotus-smelling goddess +(marked A on fig. 6) who holds the flower in the manner shown in an +Egyptian painting in the British Museum (fig. 7). + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Cyprian limestone group of Phoenician dancers, +about 6-1/2 in. high. There is a somewhat similar group, also from +Cyprus, in the British Museum. The dress, a hooded cowl, appears to be +of great antiquity.] + +From the Phoenicians we have illustrated examples, but no record, +whereas from their neighbours the Hebrews we have ample records in the +Scriptures, but no illustrations. It is, however, most probable that +the dance with them had the traditional character of the nations +around them or who had held them captive, and the Philistine dance +(fig. 6) may have been of the same kind as that around the golden calf +(Apis) of the desert (Exodus xxxii. v. 19). + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Phoenician patera, from Idalium, showing a +religious ritual dance before a goddess in a temple round a sun +emblem.] + +When they passed the Red Sea, Miriam and the maidens danced in chorus +with singing and the beating of the timbrel (tambour). (Exodus xv. v. +1.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Female figure smelling a lotus. From a +painting in the British Museum.] + +King David not only danced before the ark (2 Samuel vi. v. 16), but +mentions dancing in the 149th and 150th Psalm. Certain historians also +tell us that they had dancing in their ritual of the seasons. Their +dancing seems to have been associated with joy, as we read of "a time +to mourn and a time to dance"; we find (Eccles. iii. v. 4) they had +also the pipes: "We have piped to you and you have not danced" +(Matthew xi. v. 17). These dances were evidently executed by the +peoples themselves, and not by public performers. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Dance of Bacchantes, painted by the ceramic +painter, Hieron. (British Museum,)] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +DANCING WITH THE GREEKS. + +With the Greeks, dancing certainly was primarily part of a religious +rite; with music it formed the lyric art. The term, however, with them +included all those actions of the body and limbs, and all expressions +and actions of the features and head which suggest ideas; marching, +acrobatic performances, and mimetic action all came into the term. + +According to the historians, the Greeks attributed dancing to their +deities: Homer makes Apollo _orchestes_, or the dancer; and amongst +the early dances is that in his honour called the _Hyporchema_. Their +dances may be divided into sections somewhat thus: (1) those of a +religious species, (2) those of a gymnastic nature, (3) those of a +mimetic character, (4) those of the theatre, such as the chorus, (5) +those partly social, partly religious dances, such as the hymeneal, +and (6) chamber dances. + +Grown up men and women did not dance together, but the youth of both +sexes joined in the _Horm[)o]s_ or chain dance and the +_G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s_, or crane (see fig. 11). + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Dancing Bacchante. From a vase in the British +Museum.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Greek terra cotta dancing girl, about 350 +B.C. (British Museum.)] + +According to some authorities, one of the most primitive of the first +class, attributed to Phrygian origin, was the _Aloenes_, danced to the +Phrygian flute by the priests of Cybele in honour of her daughter +Ceres. The dances ultimately celebrated in her cult were numerous: +such as the _Anthema_, the _Bookolos_, the _Epicredros_, and many +others, some rustic for labourers, others of shepherds, etc. Every +locality seems to have had a dance of its own. Dances in honour of +Venus were common, she was the patroness of proper and decent dancing; +on the contrary, those in honour of Dionysius or Bacchus degenerated +into revelry and obscenity. The _Epilenios_ danced when the grapes +were pressed, and imitated the gathering and pressing. The +_Anteisterios_ danced when the wine was vatted (figs. 8, 9, 10), and +the _Bahilicos_, danced to the sistrus, cymbals, and tambour, often +degenerated into orgies. + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--The G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s from +a vase in the Museo Borbonico, Naples.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Panathenaeac dance, about +the 4th century B.C.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 13.--A military dance, supposed +to be the _Corybantum_. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican +Museum.] + +The _G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s_, originally from Delos, is said to have been +originated by Theseus in memory of his escape from the labyrinth of +Crete (fig. 12). It was a hand-in-hand dance alternately of males and +females. The dance was led by the representative of Theseus playing +the lyre. + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Greek dancer with castanets. (British +Museum.) See also Castanet dance by Myron, fig. 63a.] + +Of the second class, the gymnastic, the most important were military +dances, the invention of which was attributed to Minerva; of these the +_Corybantum_ was the most remarkable. It was of Phrygian origin and of +a mixed religious, military, and mimetic character; the performers +were armed, and bounded about, springing and clashing their arms and +shields to imitate the Corybantes endeavouring to stifle the cries of +the infant Zeus, in Crete. The Pyrrhic (fig. 13), a war dance of Doric +origin, was a rapid dance to the double flute, and made to resemble +an action in battle; the _Hoplites_ of Homer is thought to have been +of this kind. The Dorians were very partial to this dance and +considered their success in battle due to the celerity and training of +the dance. In subsequent periods it was imitated by female dancers and +as a _pas seul_. It was also performed in the Panathenaea by Ephebi at +the expense of the Choragus, but this was probably only a mimetic +performance and not warlike. + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Cymbals (about 4 in.) and double flute. +(British Museum.)] + +There were many other heroic military dances in honour of Hercules, +Theseus, etc. + +The chorus, composed of singers and dancers, formed part of the drama, +which included the recitation of some poetic composition, and included +gesticulative and mimetic action as well as dancing and singing. The +Dorians were especially fond of this; their poetry was generally +choral, and the Doric forms were preserved by the Athenians in the +choral compositions of their drama. + +The tragic dance, _Emmelia_, was solemn; whilst that in comedy, +_Cordax_, was frivolous, and the _siccinis_, or dance of Satyrs, was +often obscene. They danced to the music of the pipes, the tambour, the +harp, castanets, cymbals, etc. (figs. 14, 15, 16). + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Greek dancers. From a vase in the Hamilton +Collection.] [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Bacchanalian dancer. Vase from +Nocera, Museum, Naples.] + +In the rites of Dionysius the chorus was fifty and the cithara was +used instead of the flute. From the time of Sophocles it was fifteen, +and always had a professed trainer. The choric question is, however, a +subject in itself, and cannot be fairly dealt with here. The social +dances, and those in honour of the seasons, fire and water, were +numerous and generally local; whilst the chamber dances, professional +dancing, the throwing of the _Kotabos_, and such-like, must be left to +the reader's further study of the authors mentioned in the +bibliography at the end of the work. + +[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Greek dancers and tumblers.] + +It may astonish the reader to know that the funambulist or rope-dancer +was very expert with the Greeks, as also was the acrobat between +knives and swords. Animals were also taught to dance on ropes, even +elephants. + +The important religious and other dances were not generally composed +of professionals. The greatest men were not above showing their +sentiments by dancing. Sophocles danced after Salamis, and Epaminondas +was an expert dancer. There were dancers of all grades, from the +distinguished to the moderate. Distinguished persons even married into +excellent positions, if they did not already occupy them by birth. +Philip of Macedon married Larissa, a dancer, and the dancer +Aristodemus was ambassador to his Court. These dancers must not be +confounded with those hired to dance at feasts, etc. (figs. 9, 14 and +18). [Illustration: Fig. 19.--Etruscan bronze dancer with eyes of +diamonds, found at Verona. Now in the British Museum.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ETRUSCAN-SOUTH ITALIAN, ROMAN DANCING, ETC. + +One of the most important nations of antiquity was the Etruscan, +inhabiting, according to some authorities, a dominion from Lombardy to +the Alps, and from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic. + +Etruria gave a dynasty to Rome in Servius Tullius, who originally was +Masterna, an Etruscan. + +[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Etruscan dancer. From a painting in the +Grotta dei Vasi dipinti--Corneto.] + +It is, however, with the dancing that we are dealing. There is little +doubt that they were dancers in every sense; there are many ancient +sepulchres in Etruria, with dancing painted on their walls. Other +description than that of the pictures we do not possess, for as yet +the language is a dead letter. There is no doubt, as Gerhardt +[Footnote: "Ann. Institut.": 1831, p. 321.] suggests, that they +considered dancing as one of the emblems of joy in a future state, +and that the dead were received with dancing and music in their new +home. They danced to the music of the pipes, the lyre, the castanets +of wood, steel, or brass, as is shown in the illustrations taken from +the monuments. + +[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Etruscan dancing and performances. From +paintings in the Grotta della Scimia Corneto, about 500 B.C.] + +That the Phoenicians and Greeks had at certain times immense influence +on the Etruscans is evident from their relics which we possess (fig. +20). + +A characteristic illustration of the dancer is from a painting in the +tomb of the _Vasi dipinti_, Corneto, which, according to Mr. Dennis, +[Footnote: "Etruria," vol. i., p. 380.] belongs to the archaic period, +and is perhaps as early as 600 B.C. It exhibits a stronger Greek +influence than some of the paintings. Fig. 21, showing a military +dance to pipes, with other sports, comes from the _Grotta della +Scimia_, also at Corneto; these show a more purely Etruscan character. + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Etruscan Dancing. From the Grotta del +Triclinio.--Corneto.] + +The pretty dancing scene from the _Grotta del Triclinio_ at Corneto +is taken from a full-sized copy in the British Museum, and is of the +greatest interest. It is considered to be of the Greco-Etruscan +period, and later than the previous examples (fig. 22). + +There is a peculiarity in the attitude of the hands, and of the +fingers being kept flat and close together; it is not a little curious +that the modern Japanese dance, as exhibited by Mme. Sadi Yacca, has +this peculiarity, whether the result of ancient tradition or of modern +revival, the writer cannot say. + +Almost as interesting as the Etruscan are the illustrations of dancing +found in the painted tombs of the Campagna and Southern Italy, once +part of "Magna Grecia"; the figure of a funeral dance, with the double +pipe accompaniments, from a painted tomb near Albanella (fig. 23) may +be as late as 300 B.C., and those in figs. 24, 25 from a tomb near +Capua are probably of about the same period. These Samnite dances +appear essentially different from the Etruscan; although both Greek +and Etruscan influence are very evident, they are more solemn and +stately. This may, however, arise from a different national custom. + +That the Etruscan, Sabellian, Oscan, Samnite, and other national +dances of the country had some influence on the art in Rome is highly +probable, but the paucity of early Roman examples renders the evidence +difficult. + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Funeral dance in the obsequies of a female. +From a painted tomb near Albanella.] + +Rome as a conquering imperial power represented nearly the whole world +of its day, and its dances accordingly were most numerous. Amongst the +illustrations already given we have many that were preserved in Rome. +In the beginning of its existence as a power only religious dances +were practised, and many of these were of Etruscan origin, such as the +Lupercalia, the Ambarvalia, &c. In the former the dancers were +demi-nude, and probably originally shepherds; the latter was a serious +dancing procession through fields and villages. [Illustration: Fig. +24.--Funeral dance. From Capua.] + +A great dance of a severe kind was executed by the Salii, priests of +Mars, an ecclesiastical corporation of twelve chosen patricians. In +their procession and dance, on March 1, and succeeding days, carrying +the Ancilia, they sang songs and hymns, and afterwards retired to a +great banquet in the Temple of Mars. That the practice was originally +Etruscan may be gathered from the circumstance that on a gem showing +the armed priests carrying the shields there are Etruscan letters. +There were also an order of female Salii. Another military dance was +the _Saltatio bellicrepa_, said to have been instituted by Romulus in +commemoration of the Rape of the Sabines. The Pyrrhic dance (fig. 13) +was also introduced into Rome by Julius Caesar, and was danced by the +children of the leading men of Asia and Bithynia. + +As, however, the State increased in power by conquest, it absorbed +with other countries other habits, and the art degenerated often, like +that of Greece and Etruria, into a vehicle for orgies, when they +brought to Rome with their Asiatic captives even more licentious +practices and dances. + +[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Funeral dance from the same tomb.] + +As Rome, which never rose to the intellectual and imaginative state of +Greece in her best period, represented wealth, commerce, and conquest, +in a greater degree, so were her arts, and with these the lyric. In +her best state her nobles danced, Appius Claudius excelled, and +Sallust tells us that Sempronia "psaltere saltare elegantius"; so that +in those days ladies played and danced, but no Roman citizen danced +except in the religious dances. They carried mimetic dances to a very +perfect character in the time of Augustus under the term of _Musica +muta_. After the second Punic war, as Greek habits made their way into +Italy, it became a fashion for the young to learn to dance. The +education in dancing and gesture were important in the actor, as masks +prevented any display of feature. The position of the actor was never +recognized professionally, and was considered _infamia_. But the +change came, which caused Cicero to say "no one danced when sober." +Eventually the performers of lower class occupied the dancing +platform, and Herculaneum and Pompeii have shown us the results. + +[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Bacchante leading the Dionysian bull to the +altar. Bas-relief in the Vatican.] + +In the theatre the method of the Roman chorus differed from that of +the Greeks. In the latter the orchestra or place for the dancing and +chorus was about 12 ft. below the stage, with steps to ascend when +these were required; in the former the chorus was not used in comedy, +and having no orchestra was in tragedies placed upon the stage. The +getting together of the chorus was a public service, or liturgia, and +in the early days of Grecian prosperity was provided by the choregus. + +Tiberius by a decree abolished the Saturnalia, and exiled the dancing +teachers, but the many acts of the Senate to secure a better standard +were useless against the foreign inhabitants of the Empire accustomed +to sensuality and licence. + +[Illustration: Fig. 27--Bacchante. From a fresco, Pompeii, 1st century +B.C.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Dancer. From a fresco in the Baths of +Constantine, 4th century A.D.] + +Perhaps the encouragement of the more brutal combats of the Coliseum +did something to suppress the more delicate arts, but historians have +told us, and it is common knowledge, what became of the great Empire, +and the lyric with other arts were destroyed by licentious +preferences. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE "EARLY ENGLISH" AND "MEDIAEVAL" DANCE TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. + +The last illustration from the Baths of Constantine brought us into +the Christian era, although that example was not of Christian +sentiment or art. It is possible that the dance of Salome with its +diabolical reward may have prejudiced the Apostolic era, for we find +no example of dancing, as exhibiting joy, in Christian Art of that +period. The dance before Herod is historical proof that the higher +classes of Hebrews danced for amusement. + +As soon, however, as Christianity became enthroned, and a settled +society, we read of religious dances as exhibiting joy, even in the +churches. Tertullian tells us that they danced to the singing of hymns +and canticles. These dances were solemn and graceful to the old tones; +and continued, notwithstanding many prohibitions such as those of Pope +Zacharias (a Syrian) in A.D. 744. The dancing at Easter in the +Cathedral at Paris was prohibited by Archbishop Odo in the 12th +century, but notwithstanding the antagonism of the Fathers, the dances +were only partially suppressed. + +They were common on religious festivals in Spain and Portugal up to +the seventeenth century and in some localities continue even to our +own time. When S. Charles Borromeo was canonized in 1610, the +Portuguese, who had him as patron, made a procession of four chariots +of dancers; one to Renown, another to the City of Milan, one to +represent Portugal and a fourth to represent the Church. In Seville at +certain periods, and in the Balearic Isles, they still dance in +religious ceremonies. + +We know that religious dancing has continually been performed as an +accessory to prayer, and is still so used by the Mahommedans, the +American Indians and the Bedos of India, who dance into an ecstasy. + +[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Gleemen's dance, 9th century. From Cleopatra, +Cotton MS. C. viii., British Museum.] + +It is probable that this sort of mania marked the dancing in Europe +which was suppressed by Pope and Bishop. This _choreomania_ marked a +Flemish sect in 1374 who danced in honour of St. John, and it was so +furious that the disease called St. Vitus' dance takes its name from +this performance. + +Christmas carols were originally choric. The performers danced and +sang in a circle. + +The illustration (fig. 43) of a dance of angels and religious shows us +that Fra Angelico thought the practice joyful; this dance is almost a +counterpart of that amongst the Greeks (fig. 11). The other dance, by +Sandro Botticelli (fig. 44), is taken from his celebrated "Nativity" +in the National Gallery. Although we have records of performances in +churches, no illustrations of an early date have come to the knowledge +of the writer. [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Dancing to horn and pipe. +From an Anglo-Saxon MS.] + +That the original inhabitants of Britain danced--that the Picts, +Danes, Saxons and Romans danced may be taken for granted, but there +seems little doubt that our earliest illustrations of dancing were of +the Roman tradition. We find the attitude, the instruments and the +clapping of hands, all of the same undoubted classic character. +Tacitus informs us that the Teutonic youths danced, with swords and +spears, and Olaus Magnus that the Goths, &c., had military dances: +still the military dances in English MSS. (figs. 31, 32) seem more +like those of a Pyrrhic character, which Julius Caesar, the conqueror +of England, introduced into Rome. The illustration (fig. 29) of what +is probably a Saxon gleemen's dance shows us the kind of amusement +they afforded and how they followed classic usages. + +[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Anglo-Saxon sword dance. From the MS. +Cleopatra, C. viii., British Museum.] The gleemen were reciters, +singers and dancers; and the lower orders were tumblers, +sleight-of-hand men and general entertainers. What may have been the +origin of our hornpipe is illustrated in fig. 30, where the figures +dance to the sound of the horn in much the same attitudes as in the +modern hornpipe, with a curious resemblance to the position in some +Muscovite dances. + +[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Sword dance to bagpipes, 14th century. From 2 +B vii., Royal MS., British Museum.] + +The Norman minstrel, successor of the gleeman, used the double-pipe, +the harp, the viol, trumpets, the horn and a small flat drum, and it +is not unlikely that from Sicily and their South Italian possessions +the Normans introduced classic ideas. + +Piers the Plowman used words of Norman extraction for them, as he +speaks of their "Saylen and Saute." + +The minstrel and harpist does not appear to have danced very much, but +to have left this to the joculator, and dancing and tumbling and even +acrobatic women and dancers appear to have become common before the +time of Chaucer's "Tomblesteres." + +[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Herodias tumbling. From a MS. end of 13th +century (Addl. 18,719, f. 253b), British Museum.] + +That this tumbling and dancing was common in the thirteenth century is +shown by the illustration from the sculpture at Rouen Cathedral (fig. +34), the illustrations from a MS. in the British Museum (fig. 33) of +Herodias tumbling and of a design in glass in Lincoln, and other +instances at Ely; Idsworth Church, Hants; Ponce, France, and +elsewhere. It is suggested that the camp followers of the Crusaders +brought back certain dances and amongst these some of an acrobatic +nature, and many that were reprehensible, which brought down the anger +of the Clergy. + +[Illustration: Fig. 34.--A tumbler, as caryatid. Rouen Cathedral, 13th +century.] + +In the fourteenth century, from a celebrated MS. (2 B. vii.) in the +British Museum and other cognate sources we get a fair insight of the +amusement afforded by these dancers and joculators. In the +illustration (fig. 35) we get A and C tumblers, male and female; D, a +woman and bear dance; and E, a dance of fools to the organ and +bagpipe. It will be observed that they have bells on their caps, and +it must have required much skill and practice to sound their various +toned bells to the music as they danced. This dance of fools may have +suggested or became eventually merged into the "Morris Dance" (fig. +50) of which some account with other illustrations of "Comic Dances" +will be given hereafter. The man dancing and playing the pipes with a +woman on his shoulder (fig. 36), the stilt dancer with a curious +instrument (C), and the woman jumping through a hoop, give us other +illustrations of fourteenth century amusements. + +[Illustration: Fig. 35.--14th century dancers. A and C are tumblers; +B, tumbling and balancing to the tambour; D, a woman dancing around a +whipped bear; E, jesters dancing.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 36.--A, man dancing and playing pipes, carrying a +woman; B, jumping through a hoop; C, a stilt dance. 14th century.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SOCIETY DANCING FROM THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. + +[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Italian dance. From an engraving, end of 15th +century, attributed to Baccio Baldini.] + +Concerning the dance as a means of social intercourse, it does not +appear to have been formulated as an accomplishment until late in the +thirteenth century, and at a later date was cultivated as a means of +teaching what we call deportment, until it became almost a necessity +with the classes, as is shown by the literature of that period. The +various social dances, such as the Volte, the Jig and the Galliard, +although in early periods, not so numerous, required a certain +training and agility. These, however, soon became complicated with +many social and local variations, the characteristics of which are a +study in themselves. The dances (figs. 37 and 38) in a field of +sports, from an Italian engraving of the fifteenth century, show us +nothing new; indeed, with different costumes it is very like what we +have from Egypt (fig. 3), only a different phase of the action, and +the attitude of this old dance is repeated even to our own time. + +[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Italian dancing, the end of the 15th +century.] + +In the Chamber dance by Martin Zasinger (fig. 39), of the fifteenth +century, no figures are in action, but we see an arrangement of the +guests and musicians, from which it is evident that the Chamber dance +as a social function had progressed and that the "Bal pare," etc., +was here in embryo. + +The flute and viol are evidently opening the function and the trumpets +and other portions of the orchestra on the other side waiting to come +in. + +[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Chamber dance, 15th century. From a drawing +by Martin Zasinger.] + +The stately out-door function, in a pleasure garden, from the "Roman +de la Rose" (fig. 40) illustrates but one portion of the feature of a +dance, another of which is described in Chaucer's translation: + + "They threw y fere + Ther mouthes so that through their play + It seemed as they kyste alway." + +Fancy dress and comic dances have handed down the same characteristics +almost to our own time. The Wildeman costume dance (fig. 41) is +interesting in many respects, it not only shows us the dance, but the +costume and general method of the Chamber. + +[Illustration: Fig. 40.--Dancing in a "pleasure garden," end of the +15th century. French, from the "Roman de la Rose," in the British +Museum.] + +The fifteenth century comic dancers in a _fete champetre_ (fig. 42) +and those of the seventeenth century by Callot (fig. 52) are good +examples of this entertainment--in the background of the latter a +minuet seems to be in progress. The Morris dance (fig. 50) shows us +the development that had taken place since the fourteenth century. + +[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Fancy dress dance of Wildemen of the 15th +century. From MS. 4379 Harl, British Museum.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Comic dance to pipe and tabor, end of 15th +century. From pen drawing in the Mediaeval House Book in the Castle of +Wolfegg, by the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 43.--A dance of Angels and Saints at the entrance +to Heaven. Fra Angelico.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Dancing angels. From a "Nativity" by Sandro +Botticelli _circa_ 1500 A.D.] [Illustration: Fig. 45.--Albert Duerer, +1514 A.D.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 46.--Albert Duerer.] + +Allusion has already been made to the beautiful paintings of +Botticelli and Fra Angelico, which tell us of Italian choral dances of +their period; these do not belong to social functions, but are +certainly illustrative of the custom of their day. Albert Duerer (figs. +45, 46) has given us illustrations of the field dances of his period, +but both these dances and those drawn by Sebald Beham (fig. 47) are +coarse, and contrast unfavourably with the Italian, although the +action is vigorous and robust. + +[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Scenes from dances. German, dated 1546, by +Hans Sebald Beham.] The military dance of Dames and Knights of +Armour, by Hans Burgkmair, on the other hand, appears stately and +dignified (fig. 48). This may illustrate the difference between +chamber and garden or field dancing. + +[Illustration: Fig. 48.--A torchlight military dance of the early 16th +century. From a picture by Hans Burgkmair.] + +At the end of the sixteenth century we get a work on dancing which +shows us completely its position as a social art in that day. It is +the "Orchesographie" of Thoinot Arbeau (Jean Tabouret, Canon of +Langres, in 1588), from which comes the illustration of the +"Galliarde" (fig. 49) and to which I would refer the reader for all +the information he desires concerning this period. In this work much +stress is laid on the value of learning to dance from many points of +view--development of strength, manner, habits and courtesy, etc. Alas! +we know now that all these external habits can be acquired and leave +the "natural man" beneath. [Illustration: Fig. 49.--_La Galliarde_. +From the "Orchesographie" of Thoinot Arbeau (Jean Tabourot), Langres, +1588.] + +Desirable, therefore, as good manners and such like are, they do not +fulfil all the requirements that the worthy Canon wished to be +involved by them. + +[Footnote: The advice which he gives is valuable +from its bearing on the customs of the 16th century. It even has great +historical value, indicating the influence dancing has had on good +manners. That the history of dancing is the history of manners may be +too much insisted upon. For these reasons we insert these little known +passages. The first has reference to the right way of proceeding at a +ball. + + "Having entered the place where the company is gathered for the + dance, choose a good young lady (honneste damoiselle) and raising + your hat or bonnet with your right hand you will conduct her to + the ball with your left. She, wise and well trained, will tender + her left and rise to follow you. Then in the sight of all you + conduct her to the end of the room, and you will request the + players of instruments to strike up a 'basse danse'; because + otherwise through inadvertance they might strike up some other + kind of dance. And when they commence to play you must commence + to dance. And be careful, that they understand, in your asking + for a 'basse danse,' you desire a regular and usual one. + Nevertheless, if the air of one song on which the 'basse danse' + is formed pleases you more than another you can give the + beginning of the strain to them." + + "_Capriol_:--If the lady refuses, I shall feel very ashamed. + + "_Arbeau_:--A well-trained lady never refuses him who so honours + her as to lead her to the dance. + + "_Capriol_:--I think so too, but in the meantime the shame of the + refusal remains with me. + + "_Arbeau_:--If you feel sure of another lady's graciousness, take + her and leave aside this graceless one, asking her to excuse you + for having been importunate; nevertheless, there are those who + would not bear it so patiently. But it is better to speak thus + than with bitterness, because in so doing you acquire a + reputation for being gentle and humane, and to her will fall the + character of a 'glorieuse' unworthy of the attention paid her." + + "When the instrument player has ceased" continues our good Canon + "make a deep bow by way of taking leave of the young lady and + conduct her gently to the place whence you took her, whilst + thanking her for the honour she has done you." Another extract is + not wanting in flavour: "Hold the head and body straight, have a + countenance of assurance, spit and cough little, and if necessity + compels you, turn your face the other side and use a beautiful + white handkerchief. Talk graciously, in gentle and honest speech, + neither letting your hands hang as if dead or too full of + gesticulation. Be dressed cleanly and neatly 'avec la chausse + bien tiree et Pescarpin propre.' + + "And bear in mind these particulars." +] + +We have have seen from the fourteenth century (figs. 35 C, 36 A, 46) +how common the bagpipe was in out-of-door dances; in the illustrations +from Duerer (fig. 46) and in fig. 53 from Holtzer it has developed, and +has two accessory pipes, besides that played by the mouth, and the +player is accompanied by a sort of clarionet. This also appears to be +the only accompaniment of the Trio (fig. 58). [Illustration: Fig. +50.--Morris dancers. From a window that was in the possession of +George Tollett, Esq., Birtley, Staffordshire, 16th century.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 51.--Court dance. From a drawing by Callot, 1635 +A.D.] + +In the sixteenth century certain Spanish dances were introduced into +France, such as la Pavane, which was accompanied by hautboys and +sackbuts. + +[Illustration: Fig. 52.--Comic dancers. By Callot, from the act +entitled "Balli di Sfessama," 1609 A.D.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 53.--Country dance. From a drawing by John +Evangelist Holtzer, 17th century.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 54.--A ball-room dance, _Le Bal Pare_, of the 18th +century. From August de l'Aubin.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 55.--A dance in the 18th century. From a painting +by Hogarth.] + +There were, however, various other dances of a number too +considerable to describe here, also introduced. The dance of the +eighteenth century from Derby ware (fig. 59) seems to be but a +continuation in action of those of the sixteenth century, as +out-of-door performances. + +[Illustration: Fig. 56.--Caricature of a dancing master. Hogarth.] + +We have now arrived at the modern style of ball, so beloved by many of +the French Monarchs. Henry IV. and Napoleon were fond of giving these +in grand style, and in some sort of grand style they persist even as a +great social function to our own time. The Court balls of Louis XIII. +and XIV. at Versailles were really gorgeous ballets, and their +grandeur was astonishing; this custom was continued under the +succeeding monarchs. An illustration of one in the eighteenth century +by August de l'Aubin (fig. 54) sufficiently shows their character. +There is nothing new in the postures illustrated, which may have +originated thousands of years ago. As illustrating the popular ball of +the period, the design by Hogarth (fig. 55) is an excellent contrast. +The _contredanse_ represented was originally the old country dance +exported to France and returned with certain arrangements added. This +is a topic we need not pursue farther, as almost every reader knows +what social dancing now is. + +[Illustration: Fig. 57.--Spring dancing away from winter. From a +drawing by Watteau.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 58.--The Misses Gunning dancing. End of the 18th +century, from a print by Bunbury, engraved by Bartolozzi.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 59.--Dancing. Close of the 18th century. From +Derby ware.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 60.--Spanish dance in the Hall of Saragoza, 19th +century.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +THE MODERN THEATRE DANCE. + +Although the theatrical ballet dance is comparatively modern, the +elements of its formation are of the greatest antiquity; the chorus of +dancers and the performances of the men in the Egyptian chapters +represent without much doubt public dancing performances. We get +singing, dancing, mimicry and pantomime in the early stages of Greek +art, and the development of the dance rhythm in music is equally +ancient. + +The Alexandrine Pantomime, introduced into Rome about 30 B.C. by +Bathillus and Pylades, appears to have been an entertainment +approaching the ballet. + +In the middle ages there were the mysteries and "masks"; the latter +were frequent in England, and are introduced by Shakespere in "Henry +VIII." + +In Italy there appears to have been a kind of ballet in the 14th +century, and from Italy, under the influence of Catharine de' Medici, +came the ballet. Balthasar di Beaujoyeulx produced the first recorded +ballet in France, in the Italian style, in 1582. This was, however, +essentially a Court ballet. + +The theatre ballet apparently arose out of these Court ballets. Henry +III. and Henry IV., the latter especially, were very fond of these +entertainments, and many Italians were brought to France to assist in +them. Pompeo Diabono, a Savoyard, was brought to Paris in 1554 to +regulate the Court ballets. At a later date came Rinuccini, the poet, +a Florentine, as was probably Caccini, the musician. They had composed +and produced the little operetta of "Daphne," which had been performed +in Florence in 1597. Under these last-mentioned masters the ballet in +France took somewhat of its present form. This passion for Court +ballets continued under Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. + +[Illustration: Fig. 61.--Mlle. de Camargo. After a painting by +Lancret, about 1740 A.D.] + +Louis XIII. as a youth danced in one of the ballets at St. Germain, it +is said at the desire of Richelieu, who was an expert in spectacle. It +appears that he was encouraged in these amusements to remedy fits of +melancholy. + +Louis XIV., at seven, danced in a masquerade, and afterwards not only +danced in the ballet of "Cassandra," in 1651, but did all he could to +raise the condition of the dance and encourage dancing and music. His +influence, combined with that of Cardinal Richelieu, raised the +ballet from gross and trivial styles to a dignity worthy of music, +poetry and dancing. His uncle, Gaston of Orleans, still patronized the +grosser style, but it became eclipsed by the better. Lulli composed +music to the words of Moliere and other celebrities; amongst notable +works then produced was the "Andromeda" of Corneille, a tragedy, with +hymns and dances, executed in 1650, at the Petit Bourbon. + +[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Pauline Duvernay at Covent Garden, +1833-1838.] + +The foundation of the theatrical ballet was, however, at the +instigation of Mazarin, to prevent a lowering of tone in the +establishment of the _Academie de Danse_ under thirteen Academicians +in 1661. This appears to have been merged into the _Academie Royale de +Musique et de Danse_ in 1669, which provided a proper training for +debutants, under MM. Perrin and Cambert, whilst Beauchamp, the master +of the Court ballets, had charge of the dancing. The first +opera-ballet, the "Pomona" of Perrin and Cambert, was produced in +1671. To this succeeded many works of Lulli, to whom is attributed the +increased speed in dance music and dancing, that of the Court ballets +having been slow and stately. + +[Illustration: Fig. 63.--Mlle. Fanny Ellsler. From a lithograph by A. +Lacaucbie.] + +The great production of the period appears to have been the "Triumph +of Love" in 1681, with twenty scenes and seven hundred performers; +amongst these were many of the nobility, and some excellent +_ballerine_, such as Pesaut, Carre, Leclerc, and Lafontaine. + +A detailed history of the ballet is, however, impossible here, and we +must proceed to touch only on salient points. It passed from the +Court to the theatre about 1680 and had two characteristics, one with +feminine dancers, the other without. + +[Illustration: Fig. 63a.--Dancing satyr playing castanets, by Myron, +in the Vatican Museum. The action is entirely suggestive of that of +Fanny Ellsler, and might be evidence of the antiquity of the Spanish +tradition.] + +It is not a little curious that wearing the mask, a revival of the +antique, was practised in some of these ballets. The history of the +opera-ballet of those days gives to us many celebrated names of +musicians, such as Destouches, who gave new "verve" to ballet music, +and Rameau. Jean Georges Noverre abolished the singing and established +the five-act ballet on its own footing in 1776. In this it appears he +had partly the advice of Garrick, whom he met in London. The names of +the celebrated dancers are numerous, such as Pecourt, Blaudy (who +taught Mlle. Camargo), Laval, Vestris, Germain, Prevost, Lafontaine, +and Camargo (fig. 61), of the 18th century; Taglioni, Grisi, Duvernay, +Cerito, Ellsler, etc., of the 19th century, to those of our own day. A +fair notice of all of these would be a work in itself. + +[Illustration: Fig. 64.--Mlle. Taglioni. From a lithograph of the +period.] + +The introduction of the ballet into England was as late as 1734, when +the French dancers, Mlle. Salle, the rival of Mlle. Camargo, and Mlle. +de Subligny made a great success at Covent Garden in "Ariadne and +Galatea," and Mlle. Salle danced in her own choregraphic invention of +"Pygmalion," since which time it has been popular in England, when +those of the first class can be obtained. There are, however, some +interesting and romantic circumstances connected with the ballet in +London in the last century, which it will not be out of place to +record here. Amongst the dancers of the last century of considerable +celebrity were two already mentioned, Mlles. Duvernay (fig. 62) and +Taglioni (fig. 64), whose names are recorded in the classic verse of +"Ingoldsby." + + "Malibran's dead, Duvernay's fled; + Taglioni has not yet arrived in her stead." + +[Illustration: Fig. 65.--_Pas de Trois_ by Mlles. Ferraris, Taglioni, +and Carlotta Grisi.] + +Mlle. Duvernay was a Parisian, and commenced her study under Barrez, +but subsequently was under Vestris and Taglioni, the father of the +celebrity mentioned in the verse. + +[Illustration: Fig. 66.--Mlle. Adeline Genee, 1906. Photo, Ellis and +Walery.] + +Duran hangs over the mantelpiece of the refectory of the presbytery. + +[Illustration: Fig. 67.--Mlle. Anna Pavlova, 1910. From a photo by +Foulsham and Banfield.] + +Having made a great Parisian reputation, she came to London in 1833, +and from that date until 1837 held the town, when she married Mr. +Stephens Lyne Stephens, M.P., a gentleman of considerable wealth, but +was left a childless widow in 1861, and retired to her estate at +Lyneford Hall, Norfolk, living in retirement and spending her time in +good works. She is said to have spent L100,000 in charities and +churches, and that at Cambridge, dedicated to the English martyrs, was +founded, completed, and endowed by her. She led a blameless and +worthy life, and died in 1894. Her portrait by Mlle. Taglioni (fig. +64), her co-celebrity, married Count Gilbert de Voisins, a French +nobleman, in 1847, and with her marriage came an ample fortune; +unfortunately the bulk of this fortune was lost in the Franco-German +war. With the courage of her character the Countess returned to London +and gave lessons in dancing, etc., in which she was sufficiently +successful to obtain a fair living. She died in 1884 at 80 years of +age. Of the other celebrities of the period--Carlotta Grisi, Ferraris +(fig. 65), and Fanny Ellsler (fig. 63)--some illustrations are given; +besides these were Fanny Cerito, Lucile Grahn, a Dane, and some others +of lesser notoriety performing in London at this great period of the +ballet. + +[Illustration: Fig. 68.--Mlle. Sophie Fedorova.] + +The recent encouragement of the classic ballet has introduced us to +some exquisite dancers: amongst these are Mlle. Adeline Genee (fig. +66) and Mlle. Anna Pavlova (fig. 67); the latter, with M. Mordkin and +a corps of splendid dancers, are from Russia, from whence also comes +the important troupe now at the Alhambra with Mlle. Geltzer and other +excellent dancers. The celebrated company at Covent Garden, and Lydia +Kyasht at the Empire, are also Russian. It is not surprising that we +get excellent dancing from Russia; the school formed by Peter the +Great about 1698 has been under State patronage ever since. + +Notices of all the important dancers from Italy, Spain, Paris, or +elsewhere, performing in England in recent years, would occupy +considerable space, and the reader can easily obtain information +concerning them elsewhere. + +That the technique and speed of the classic dance has considerably +increased is historically certain, and we must hope that this speed +will not sacrifice graceful movement. Moreover, technique alone will +not make the complete fine-artist: some invention is involved. +Unfortunately, some modern attempts at invention seem crude and +sensational, whilst lacking the exquisite technique desirable in all +exhibitions of finished art. + +Before concluding it is almost imperative to say something about the +naked foot dancers, followers of Isidora Duncan. Some critics and a +certain public have welcomed them; but is it not "sham antique"? It +does not remind one of the really classic. Moreover, the naked foot +should be of antique beauty, which in most of these cases it is not. +Advertisements tell us that these dance are interpretations of classic +music--Chopin, Weber, Brahms, etc.; they are not really +interpretations, but distractions! We can hardly imagine that these +composers intended their work for actual dancing. One can listen and +be entranced; one sees the dancer's "interpretations" or +"translations" and the music is degraded to a series of sham classic +postures. + +The idea that running about the stage in diaphanous costumes, with +conventional mimicry and arm action, is classic or beautiful is a +mistake; the term aesthetic may cover, but not redeem it. There is not +even the art of the ordinary ballet-dancer discernible in these +proceedings. + +On another plane are such as the ballets in "Don Giovanni" and +"Faust." Mozart and Gounod wrote these with a full knowledge of the +method of interpretation and the persons who had been trained for +that purpose--the performers fit the music and it fits them. This +opera-ballet is also more in accordance with tradition before the +time of Noverre. + +Neither do the "popular" and curious exhibitions of Loie Fuller strike +one as having a classic character, or future, of any consideration, +pretty as they may be. + +The operetta or musical comedy has given us some excellent art, +especially at the end of the 19th century, when Sylvia Gray, Kate +Vaughan, Letty Lind, Topsy Sinden, and others of like _metier_ gave us +skirt and drapery dancing. + +This introduces us to the question of costume. That commonly used by +the _prima ballerina_ is certainly not graceful; it was apparently +introduced about 1830, presumably to show the action and finished +method of the lower extremities. If Fanny Ellsler and Duvernay could +excel without this ugly contrivance, why is it necessary for others? + +At the same time it is better than indifferent imitations of the +Greek, or a return to the debased characteristics of Pompeiian art, in +which the effect of the classic and fine character of the material are +rendered in a sort of transparent muslin. + +With these notices the author's object in this sketch is completed. Of +the _bal-masque_ garden dances, public balls and such-like, he has no +intention to treat; they are not classic dancing nor "art," with the +exception perhaps of the Scottish reels. Nor is he interested in the +dancing of savage tribes, nor in that of the East, although some few +illustrations are given to illustrate traditions: for example, the use +of the pipe and tabor in Patagonia, the dancer from Japan, winged, +like that in the "Roman de la Rose" (fig. 40), and the religious dance +of Tibet, showing the survival of the religious dance in some +countries. In Mrs. Groves' book on dancing there is an excellent +chapter on the Ritual dance as now practised, to which the reader can +refer. + +[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Japanese Court Dance.] [Illustration: Fig. +70.--Indian dancing-girl.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 71.--Patagonian dancers to fife and tabor.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 72.--Tibetan religious dancing procession, 1908 +A.D.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY. + + +Baron, A. "Lettres et Entretiens sur la Danse." Paris, 1825. + +Emmanuel, M. "La Danse grecque antique." 1896. + +Menestrier, Pere. "Des Ballets anciens et modernes." 1682. + +Bonnet. "Histoire generale de la Danse sacree et profane." 1723. + +Cahusac. "La Danse ancienne et moderne." 1754. + +Noverre. "Lettres sur les Ballets." 1760. + +Charbonnel, R. "La Danse de Lettres, &c." 1807. + +Pougin, A. Dict. Hist, du Theatre. 1885. + +Aulnaye, De l'. "De la Saltation theatrale." 1789. + +Olaus Magnus. Gent. Septentr., Hy., Book III., Chap. VII. See Bourne's +"Vulgar Antiqs.," p. 175. + +Abbeau-Thoinot (Canon Jean Tabourot). "Orchesographie." 1643. + +Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes." London, 1801. + +Thomson, Chas. and Samuel. Collection of 800 Dances. 4 vols. +1770-1773. + +Playford's "Dancing Master." 2nd ed. 1652. + +Wilkinson, Sir G. "Ancient Egyptians." 3 vols. London. + +Dennis. "Etruria." 2 vols. London. + +Compan. "Dictionnaire de la Danse." 1802. + +Blasis, C. "Traite de la Danse." Milan, 1830. + +---. "Code of Terpsichore." London, 1823. + +Vuillier, G. "La Danse a travers les Ages." + +Menil, F. de. "Histoire de la Danse a travers les Ages." + +Fonta Laure, Mme. "Notice sur les Danses du xvi. siecle." + +Guihelmi. "Hebraie Pisauriensis, _de practica seu arte trepudis, &c._" +1463. MS. Bib. Nation. + +Domini, Johan. "Pisauriensis," ditto. MS. Bib. Nation. 1463. + +Caroso, F. "Il Ballarino." 1581. + +Cesare Negri. "Nuovo Invenzioni di Balli." 1604. + +Vestris, D. "Les Danses autrefois." 1887. + +Desrat, G. "Dictionnaire de la Danse." Paris, 1895. + +Rameau, P. "Le Maitre a danser." + +Magny. "Principes de Choregraphie." Paris, 1765. + +---. "Nouveau Guide de la Danse." 1888. + +Gawlikowski, P. "Guide complet de la Danse." 1858. + +Angiolini. "Discuzzioni sulla dansa pantomima." 1760. + +Saint Leon. "De l'etat actuel de la danse." Lisbon, 1856. + +Giraudet, E. Traite de la danse, 1890. + +---. Nouveau Guide, 1888. + +Grove, Mrs. Lilly. "History of Dancing." London, 1890. + +Skalkovsky-Pleshcheev. "Nash Balet" (our Ballet). 1899. A History +of the Russian Ballet, in Russian. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Dance (by An Antiquary), by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE (BY AN ANTIQUARY) *** + +***** This file should be named 17289.txt or 17289.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/2/8/17289/ + +Produced by Ben Courtney, Sandy Brown, and the Distributed +Proofreaders team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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